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Sunday, April 29, 2012

1. This is one of the corridors in the Student Union. It's lined with offices with big open windows and painted a brilliant salmon pink, and there are tables for working. So not only is it great for voyeurism and people-watching purposes, it is also "colourfully" pleasing. May just repaint my bedroom in salmon..

2. I bought this nail varnish a few days ago and I can honestly say, hand on heart, it is the best glitter nail varnish of all time. (It's Milani nail varnish in "Disco Lights", I've never heard of Milani before, so it may just be an American brand. Very possibly a Barry M equivalent, i.e., loved by teenage girls and shoplifters alike.)The glitter spreads on really liberally, so it looks like you've just tipped your nails into a pot of it. I always wanted to give using 'real' glitter a go, going over the top of it in clear polish, but the faffy-sounding process always put me off a little bit. This nail varnish has pretty much the same effect though, and it's bordering on silly how happy it's been making me since I first put it on. "Dude, it's nail varnish." "..I can't help it."

3. You know the deal, I often rattle on about something that's on my 'wishlist' for a good while before actually buying it. This isn't something I necessarily like about myself as it's probably a long-term side effect of all those Alvin Hall money programmes I used to watch with my Mum when I was little. But as my last set of headphone have just given up the ghost, I finally bought a pair of Koss Porta Pro Stereo Headphones after I saw a girl last year wearing a pair on the bus in Manchester and looking all Natalie Portman and 'deep in thought'. It's like a revelation wearing these headphones! I hadn't realised I'd been previously subjecting myself to shoddy quality music listening. "Have you heard of this new band? I've been listening to them all week. They're just so unique and, and..tinny.." Alas, no more tinny music, no more..

Beautiful shots from the April issue of British Vogue, shot by Bruce Weber and Joe McKenna. Especially love the Arizona Muse-esque bobbed hair, the perfect white rollneck from Pringle and the sporty presence of basketballs and neoprene surfing gear. I've been completely cut off from British magazines since I've been out in America so I'm looking forward to catching up on Vogue when I come home in a month. The Gentlewoman, Husk and Tank are all top of my list.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Photographs of the new Opening Ceremony commuter shop at Tokyo's Shinjuku train station.

Man, this is such exciting news. Opening Ceremony are to open a pop-up shop on Covent Garden's King Street this July as a savvy celebration of the London Olympics and a permanent store with follow in the Autumn. Who doesn't love Opening Ceremony? A trip to New York is never quite complete without a visit to their Howard Street outpost for a peek at their constantly awesome and innovative collaborations and a wander around their deliciously designed floors. I can't wait to have a UK-based Opening Ceremony to call our own. I'm particularly excited about being able to go in a coo over endless pairs of chunky Marques Almeida shoes (Opening Ceremony are one of only 3 stockists), 'Radarte' Rodarte tees, the Chloe Sevigny x Opening Ceremony collection (duh) and having a peruse of the collaborations with both Adidas and Topshop which will launch along with the pop-up store.

Fingers crossed also for some awesome Kenzo decor in the same style as the SS12 displays seen at Harvey Nichols (see Susie's post here..) and the possibility of some sort of accompanying eatery. It is a 3,000 square foot store after all..

Really love these two videos which are a collaboration between Nike China and Tank Magazine to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the classic Nike Cortez running trainer.

The first follows Liu Xiao ("a makeup artist who usually doesn't wear makeup herself"-intriguing.) while the second features designer Richie Chan and actress and writer Tian Yuan. Styling comes from Isabelle Sawyer (who has also styled a really awesome Year Book Portrait editorial in the latest issue of Hot and Cool Magazine) and a flawless soundtrack from London-based Slime (whose EP Increases is definitely worth a listen to.)

These videos definitely put drizzly days into an appealing light. Drizzly days that involve walking around the Jinhua architecture park in China from under the protection of a nice cosy mac, and atop huge geometric paving slabs, naturally.

The Maarten Van Der Horst for Topshop collection launches today and following the equally botanic-tastic splendours of the Mary Katrantzou collaboration, it's (in my books at least) even more exciting. God knows I'm a sucker for a good juicy leaf. The Hawaiian blazer is definitely my favourite piece (although I sort of wish an matching pair of trousers could have been slipped into the mix too) Really like the addition of some hot pink jersey pieces (crop tops and cycling shorts for those who dare..) which would be pretty perfect for wearing in the garden whilst dozing and listening to the Olympics on the radio come the summertime. Or for camouflaged disguise behind the equally rosy latest issue of The Gentlewoman. Although the print will make the collection very easily distinguishable in public, I'm actually looking forward to seeing someone waltz past me head to toe in verdant ferns; it'll makes a nice change from florals. Plus fellow comrades in the Maarten Van Der Horst appreciation society deserve a good old high five, which is exactly what such a sight would warrant. High five!

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Good god, it's hot. Which means it's one of those days in which a laid-back minidress sling is required. This is one of the pieces I picked up last week from Goodwill. Also required: occasionally holding ice-cubes to the back of my neck and delivering cool one-liners like an aged divorcee from behind my sunglasses.

I'm on a big high after spending a few days in California with some of my best friends, eating my own body weight in fresh avocado on toast and having my love for the West Coast reaffirmed. Making the most of my time in America has been a real priority and visiting my friends who are also on exchange at their respective universities has been high up the list-particularly with two of them at Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz. Seeing everyone after a few months of absence was really, really lovely. People who understand my filthy wit! Familiar bodies with which to lie in bed watching Apocalypse, Now! Friendship is a fine, fine thing.

Some of my highlights included spending a lot of time in Jim's crusty but loveable Toyota 'Shandy' (complete with a 'Badass Bitch' bumper sticker which I like to think was akin to Uma Thurman's 'Pussy Galore' paintwork in Kill Bill, but about 100 times smaller.) I also cycled through San Francisco with Charlie and huffed and puffed up for a ride over the Golden Gate Bridge. The sun was blazing and we spied two porpoises down in the bay below us.

We took the Highway 1 from San Francisco to Monterrey, stopping at the brilliant Swanton Berry Farm Stand which is a couple of miles north of Davenport. Jim and Kate were cold and wet after a naked dash into the sea (see above) and we were collectively seduced by their super delicious Mexican Hot Chocolate, cooshty sofas, variety of pies, honesty box and free reign of a backgammon board. Certainly worth a visit if you ever find yourself on that stretch of road with a rumbling tummy.

The guys in California have is pretty good. There's nothing quite like being so close to such breathtaking scenery and having sunshine on tap to make life look pretty good. I found myself fantasising about running away to the Golden Coast, wearing a permanent tan, learning to skateboard and driving an obscenely hyper-masculine 1980s car.

Friday, April 13, 2012

"They were introducing people to look at the world differently. Life was fun was work was fun was life."

Doesn't this documentary on Charles and Ray Eames look brilliant? I still haven't seen the Bill Cunningham documentary yet so I think these two would make a pretty nice double-bill. Watched back to back for optimum inspiration explosions.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

I've been slightly fantasising about working in a diner recently, for purely shallow reasons- to wear a blouse with contrasting piped edging and hold a coffee pot in my hand. So Lily Tomlin in Robert Altman's Shortcuts and Kerry Russell in Waitress have inspired this outfit, as my favourite big-screen waitresses. (Definitely putting them on your to-watch list if you haven't seen them already) My Mum has also made me think that some maroon coloured Converse would be a pretty good idea for Summer, after I saw her wearing a pair in an old photograph I was looking at recently. Topped off with some thin gold sleepers, some big old Karen Walker shades and a bottle of Coca Cola..

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Gung huh ahh. I have new clothes! Yeahh. Today I took a trip to Goodwill and managed to find some pretty damn nice clothes with which to reinvigorate my pity state of wardrobe funk-dom which has involved wearing roughly the same 5 outfits since I've been in the States. Picture it if you will; me walking out of Goodwill with a grin on my face, strutting through the lot, two bulging plastic bags in hand with the sweeping chords of Chaka Khan's 'I'm Every Woman' playing.

I also stopped into a great little hospice shop that I was passing on my way back. As soon as I stepped in I felt like I was in some sort of ode to the Golden Girls with lots of older women shouting across the perfectly arranged shop (which seemed to be a house, with different departments in different rooms) saying things like 'Oh Rhohnda, whadda you getting today?' or 'oh, sweetie, those are selling like hawtcakes!' as I perused a couple of cute rainmacs. When I told one of the women browsing the same rack as me that I didn't know about this place but loved it already she just smiled and said 'oh, you'll be back', half like a threat but also like an invite to an exclusive party that happens every weekday and includes only those who are wise and over 50.

So among my loot I left with one of the raincoats, in a teal colour and with a fantastic whale print lining and a great little tank top from Goodwill in pastel pink (not a colour I usually wear) with black piped seams around the neck and shoulders. Which is pretty perfect because I've been thinking lots about Diner waitresses and 1950s blouses with black piping over the past few days.

Tomorrow morning I'm off to spend a few days visiting some of my best friends in California. I'll be in Berkeley for a couple of days before driving down to Santa Cruz (preferably along the coast listening to Burt Bacharach-that might be a long shot though) so i'm particularly looking forward to boogieing with my crew and actually feeling semi-presentable in some new (to me) clothes.

I could spend hours looking through the Life Magazine archives, and actually quite often I do. I only have 4 weeks left studying here at the University of Massachusetts and I've been thinking about it a lot, how great but fleeting my American College experience has been. I've been taking a class at Mount Holyoke College every Monday and have got into the habit of using the library there because it's so beautiful with its high beams and stone staircases and feels like it's filled with much more history than the crappy tower at UMass which hums and is oddly isolated so that the combination makes it feel like you're studying in a jet engine. So sitting in Mount Holyoke's Williston Library's reading room makes me think of all the people who have studied before me and all of the tedious essay writing and giggling in libraries and naughty antics that are repeated over and over again by generations of University students everywhere.

It's what makes me love looking through the Life archives and looking at the College students that never really change, not that much anyway. So here's a mix of some photographs I particularly love, purely for students being naughty. Or just inquisitive- God knows what they're doing to that poor girl in the third picture.. But mostly it's an ode to youth, College education or not, cramming into phone booths and licking plates are where its at.

Saturday, April 07, 2012

I've started atumblr! For all of the little scraps and photographs and articles that are brilliant but too piffy for proper blog posts. One of my pet hates (among many others) is not being able to find the original source for photographs on tumblr so I'll try to be pretty diligent. You can have a gander here.

Monday, April 02, 2012

"This is great for garden lovers at home." I love this brilliant video of Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes taking a friend on a tour around the Atlanta Botanical Gardens back in 2002. It's rather melancholy as it was shot only a month before her death, but still awesome to see her spouting some perennial wisdom in a Ralph Lauren jumper and American flag bandana at the amateur cues of 'go!' from her pal. Some great deadpan declarations of "This is a very cool attraction in our Gardens!" They also took a tour of her house in Stone Mountain, Georgia, with her kitchen ("so humungous sometimes I wear roller skates"), her trophy room (no "oh, I'll keep it hidden somewhere or give it to my Mum.." false modesty like other award winners) and her outside patio, where she ate overlooking a gleaming white suburban housing estate.

Sunday, April 01, 2012

"I'm just so glad I'm not a young woman now. I feel grateful that, at the time I first started having sex with men, I didn't even have a bikini wax and men were lovely. Now I just think: how terrifying to be a 20 year-old and feel that you've got to be perfect and hairless and immaculate and that it's really awful. I just- eurgh- I would never have got undressed."

Alexandra Shulman in a great interview in today's Observer. Read the rest here.

Ever read something on this blog that touched you, made you guffaw, or that you passed onto a friend because you thought they might like it? If so, would you like to buy me a coffee to enjoy whilst I write?